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Culture, healing, politics and bullshit - Not necessarily in that order

The general, socio-political and very personal rantings and ravings of a hip hop head from the hood hustling for change... Of himself.

You all know me and are aware that I am unable to remain silent. At times to be silent is to lie. For silence can be interpreted as acquiescence.
—Miguel de Unamuno



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Tuesday, September 29, 2009

Already Missed...

William Safire's Rules for Writers:

  • Remember to never split an infinitive.
  • The passive voice should never be used.
  • Do not put statements in the negative form.
  • Verbs have to agree with their subjects.
  • Proofread carefully to see if you words out.
  • If you reread your work, you can find on rereading a great deal of repetition can be by rereading and editing.
  • A writer must not shift your point of view.
  • And don't start a sentence with a conjunction. (Remember, too, a preposition is a terrible word to end a sentence with.)
  • Don't overuse exclamation marks!!
  • Place pronouns as close as possible, especially in long sentences, as of 10 or more words, to their antecedents.
  • Writing carefully, dangling participles must be avoided.
  • If any word is improper at the end of a sentence, a linking verb is.
  • Take the bull by the hand and avoid mixing metaphors.
  • Avoid trendy locutions that sound flaky.
  • Everyone should be careful to use a singular pronoun with singular nouns in their writing.
  • Always pick on the correct idiom.
  • The adverb always follows the verb.
  • Last but not least, avoid cliches like the plague; seek viable alternatives. 




And if you're a writer and have no clue who William Safire is...


Shame, shame poor Clarice; Tsk, tsk, one should be more careful when attempting to deduct and reason in finding out exactly whom one is talking about, abd being more careful would help too.


You would never know that I broke rule numbers one thru 16 just in the three lines I wrote  !!!

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

I don't like writing rules. I just don't get them. I can't stand the fact that someone wants to place rules on what writing should and shouldn't be. I write from the heart and the gut (sometimes from below the gut). Hell sometimes I misspell words on purpose or make them up. If this guy wanted to stay in one lane then good on him. I, however, go where ever my writing takes me...and "oh the place we shall go!"

Anonymous said...

Oh satire...now I get it!

The Brown Blogger said...

Yep.

He did it to and for us for 40 years until a few days ago.

The standard bearer of wit, satire and literature will be sorely missed.

I hope you get a chance to check his archives at the New York Times.

Bananas said...

While I rarely agreed with his politics, I could never disagree with his abilities with the english langauge. He was the master "Wordsmith".

The Brown Blogger said...

Wordsmithing just as good as someone we know...

Tom Degan said...

Nice site you have here.

First Bill Buckley now Bill Safire. Two of the few remaining intelligent conservatives within the space of so short at time. The voices of reason within the conservative movement are dwindling by the day.

My left-leaning ways notwithstanding, although I did not agree with him much of the time, when William Safire spoke, I listened.

Meanwhile the movement that the two men were so identified with - the movement they both tried to save from the kooks, criminals and fools who have hijacked it - continues to implode.

Isn't life wonderful?

http://www.tomdegan.blogspot.com

Tom Degan

The Brown Blogger said...

They tried Tom.

It wasn't in vain but, logical thinking right-minded folk in the press may now be ghosts from the past.

Safire really took after Hillary a decade and a half ago and recently, he attempted to correct her posture during the last election. And while I didn't agree with him on many points political, I too listened with respect.

William F.? Sheesh. His words rang too loudly for me sometimes, although I have heard his son speak on NPR and would LOVE to have a beer with that guy.

Hey, at least they have representatives from the so-called righ 'Going Rogue'!

Life is grand!